OstomyMan

First off my disclaimer, I’m sure you’ve heard me mention my wife and that I’m married, so this is not a post about infidelity or how to “get ones kicks” while married. It’s just a simple observation of a change since I am feeling better. It has actually led to me being more attracted to my wife than detracting from it.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve noticed that I notice women more. This is not a slight against my wife in the least. I definitely love her. But in the past I have been so sick and uninterested in most things female (much to my wife’s dismay) that the most beautiful woman in the world could have come up to me and it wouldn’t have caused any kind of reaction. Being “good looking” or “cute” just didn’t warrant any attention with how low I was feeling. But now I’m feeling better and better and noticing how many good looking women there are in the world (my wife and one-year-old daughter included, though I guess I’m biased on that one!).

And this isn’t some kind of sexist thing. Nor some kind of weird ogling thing. It is what it is: a renewed admiration of women. I know I would appreciate a second look from some lady if I took the time to work out or look nice, so shouldn’t they get the same “respect” (re- Latin for again + specere Latin for to look).

Anyway, it’s just nice to be feeling well enough again to have enough attention and energy to notice and care about the outside world again.

After my surgery, I was warned that I needed to make sure I remained hydrated. I then looked up the quantity I was supposed to be drinking and it was the same as the normal recommended amount for a regular person. I thought this was funny.

But I didn’t really have to worry about it. I was already drinking plenty of water (more than that required amount) so I haven’t had much of a problem with dehydration. I’m guessing that I had been so dehydrated while I was sick that once I started to absorb things again, I just automatically started drinking more.

Now I’m back to drinking a normal amount of water. I’m not guzzling; I’m just drinking. When I start to feel a little “dehydrated”, not necessarily thirsty, I just drink some more water and it hasn’t been a problem at all.

Welcome to OstomyMan.com. My name is Jared and I’m just getting started on this blog. I had Ulcerative Colitis for nearly a decade before I decided to have a colectomy and an ileostomy. While I had Ulcerative Colitis, I can honestly say that I tried just about everything to get and keep it under control. It worked off and on for quite a while, but it finally became too much once I had a baby (March 2007) and things really showed their true colors. I had pushed too long and too far without getting the situation handled, so now it was time to terminatedly handle it so that I could get back from the zombie like state of lethary and become a useful, productive member of society, a pleasant husband and an active dad.

When I was deciding whether or not to have the colectomy and the ileostomy, I found that there wasn’t a whole lot of information available about the day-to-day effects of having that surgery. The nurse gave me a book to read (Alive and Kicking by Rolf Benirschke), which did give me some idea and I really appreciated reading it. And after I had my surgery, I joined a couple of Yahoo groups on the topic and that has been very helpful too. But I didn’t find these things until the very end of my Ulcerative Colitis and after my surgery.

So I thought I would try to help fill the void for anyone that might be going through Ulcerative Colitis or facing a potential ostomy (whether ileostomy or colostomy). I figured I would let people know what I had tried, what I had figured out, what’s going on and how things continue to go in the future. It’s just going to be my experiences (and anyone else I have post), but I think it might be useful to someone facing these unpleasant situations and looking for real, down-to-Earth specifics. Hopefully it will help shed some more light on these areas.

P.S. I’m just getting this blog up and running, so there will be some structural changes or the next little while as I get it set up how I would like it.